Middle East

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The only thing worse than the new hero status of now-covert al-Qaeda operative Abu Muhammad al-Julani and his Army of Syrian Conquest (ASC) is the news that he plans to subject all of Aleppo. Aleppo is Syria’s largest city, or at least it used to be, […]

Russia

Will Syria Issue derail Turkey-Russia Rapprochement?

contributors

By Abbas Djavadi | ( RFE/RL ) | – – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan travels to St. Petersburg on August 9 to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. They will focus on improving cooperation in two main areas: the effort to find a shared and joint solution to the Syria crisis, and in business […]

Democratic Party

Democrats Are Still Divided on Israel, But Clinton Runs Way to the Right

contributors

By Naomi Dann | Foreign Policy in Focus | (Originally published in Lobelog) Some see Democratic VP pick Tim Kaine as a promising counterbalance to Clinton’s hawkishness. Following Debbie Wasserman-Schultz’s exit as chair of the Democratic Party after the release of emails revealing efforts to undermine Bernie Sanders’s campaign, political analyst Donna Brazile will take […]

Featured

Syria: Key ISIL Smuggling city, Manbij, falls to Kurd-Arab Force

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Syrian War is nowhere near over, but the Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) episode may be drawing to an end. Alarabiya reports that the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, which is largely leftist Kurds of the YPG but includes a small Arab auxiliary faction, has taken almost all […]

Featured

ISIL Captures Thousands trying to flee it in Iraq, Executes a Dozen

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Oman Daily’s Jabbar al-Rubaie reports that Iraqi security sources announced yesterday that Daesh (ISIL, ISIS) had executed a number of the residents of the city of Hawija near Kirkuk in northern Iraq because they attempted to escape the city, over which Daesh holds sway. Hawija […]

Featured

Obama not only did not pay Iran Ransom, he denied Iran Billions it had Coming to It

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Zack Beauchamp at Vox has a very clear explanation of why the $400 million the US paid to Iran in January was not a ransom for hostages. The fact is that the Obama administration dodged a likely ruling by an arbitration court against the United States […]

African-Americans

Black Lives Matter Protests in Palestine

contributors

TeleSur | – – BLM argued that police violence and killings against Black people in the U.S. are connected to the decades-long Israeli oppression of Palestinians. Activists from the Black Lives Matter movement in the U.S. joined a protest in the Palestinian village of Bilin near Ramallah city in the West Bank in an effort […]

Israel/ Palestine

Israel jailing more and more Palestinian Minors without Charges or Trial

contributors

Ma’an News Agency | – – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Israeli human rights group B’Tselem released a report Thursday evening revealing that Israeli authorities have steadily increased their use of administrative detention — Israel’s policy of internment without charge or trial — on Palestinian minors since October. The group stated in the report that the controversial […]